Assessing the Depth of a Kanban Implementation

Operation Excellence Support Sandvik IT

(2012/08)

Christophe Achouiantz – Lean/Agile Coach@ChrisAchhttp://leanagileprojects.blogspot.se/ This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Why Assessing the Depth of a Kanban Implementation?

Teams, Managers and Coaches can quickly evaluate the current capability of a team/group, in order to:• See how the capability measures against the recommended level

for sustainable improvements• Guide the team/group on what to improve next• See, over time, the evolution of the capability (positive or negative

trend)• See the impact of the team/group improvement work• See the impact of organizational/structural changes that are outside

the team/group’s control (costs reductions, distributed, etc.)• Motivate! Get acheivements and recognition for reaching deeper

implementation

Christophe Achouiantz – @ChrisAch

Assessing the Depth of a Kanban Implementation

Limit WIPFeedback Loops

(13)

(4)

(11)(12)

(7)

(10) VisualizeImprove

Explicit Policies Manage Flow

7

1

25

2

Lean

Excellence

10

2

68

3

2

Effects

4

7

(12)

12

3

10

10

6

4

10

Improving Sustainably

Necessary for sustainable

improvements

6

• See & Understand(WIP, Blocks, Queues)

• Increase Liquidity• Measure Flow / capability

(WIP, throughput, Queues, lead time)

• Defer Commitment

• Improve Predictability• Reduced Task Switching• Reduced Lead times• Reduced Overburding

(quality, sustainability)

• Set Standards to improve upon

• Generate actionable feedback (information) from stakeholders to improve

• Improve continuously in a sustainable way

Christophe Achouiantz – @ChrisAch

Depth of Kanban Implementation

Team: Date:

Visualize1. Work (all, according to current policies)2. Work Types3. Workflow (“process”, way-of-working, value stream)4. ‘Next’ & ‘Done’5. Current Team Focus (avatars)6. Blocks7. Current Policies (DoD, DoR, capacity allocations, etc.)8. Ready for Pull (“done” within the workflow/in columns)9. Metrics (lead-times, local cycle times, SLA targets, etc.)10. WIP limits11. Inter-work dependencies (hierarchical, parent-child, etc.)12. Inter-workflow dependencies13. Risk dimensions (cost-of-delay, technical risk, market risk)

Limit Work in Progress1. No WIP limit, but commitment to finishing work over

starting new (eventually reaching a WIP level that “feels OK” for the team)

2. Some explicit WIP limits, at lower level than workflow (a.k.a Proto-Kanban): personal Kanban, WIP limit per person, WIP limits for some columns or swim-lanes, workflow with infinite limits on “done” queues, etc.

3. Explicit WIP limit at workflow level - Single workflow full pull4. Multiple interdependent workflows with pull system

Manage Flow1. Daily planning meetings (as “daily” as agreed by policies)2. Blocks out of team control are escalated for resolution3. Next is re-prioritized continuously (no commitment in Next)-

Deferred Pull decisions (dynamic prioritization)4. CFDs (updated at least once a week)5. Control Charts (updated at least once a week)6. Size of ongoing work items is limited (large work is broken

down)7. Flexible staff allocation (swarming)8. Cadence is established (planning, delivering, retrospective)9. Flow metrics (number of days blocked, lead-time efficiency)10. SLA expectations and forecasts (lead-time targets)11. Capacity Allocations

Make Policies Explicit - All Policies must be CURRENT (known & actually used)

1. Definition of Work Types and Work Item (template)2. How to pull work (selection from ‘Next’/prioritization of WIP)3. Who and when manages the ‘Next’ and ‘Done’ queues4. Staff allocation / work assignment (individual focus)5. Definition of Ready for ‘Next’6. Who, when and how to estimate work size7. Limit size of work items (work breakdown)8. How to select & prepare work for the ‘Next’ queue9. Definition of Done at all steps (seen as a Target Condition)10. Knowledge spreading/sharing strategy11. Class-of-Service12. Capacity allocation

Implement Feedback Loops1. Daily Team standups2. Key stakeholders (mngt, customers, other groups) are

regularly updated on the current situation3. Managers go and see (walk the ‘gemba’) regularly4. Regular discussions with upstream and downstream

partners5. Regular presentations and discussions about Financial

performance6. Regular presentations and discussions about Quality KPI

(defect rate, customer satisfaction, etc.)7. “Regularly” means once per month or more often

Improve1. The group knows why it exists and its criteria for success 2. Regular Retrospectives / Kaizen events3. The team knows its current condition (may require metrics)4. True North exists, is communicated and shared by the team5. The team knows the current target condition (the challenge)6. There is a validation criteria (test) for the current target condition to

know when the target condition is reached7. The team knows what obstacles are preventing them from reaching the

target condition8. The team knows what obstacle is being currently addressed9. The team knows what is the next step in resolving the current obstacle

(PDCA)10. The team go and see what they have learned from taking that step

Effects (seeing Evidence of…)1. Team members are seeing and understanding the Big Picture

(team-level vs. local situations)2. Better “team spirit” (helping each-others to complete work,

respect)3. Focus on removing blocks4. Focusing on finishing work rather than starting new work5. Team is working on the “right” thing (“right” prioritization)6. Limiting work to team’s capacity (limited stress, optimal lead-

times)7. Team has motivation to drive improvements8. Local process evolution (visualization, workflow, policies, WIP

limits)9. Increase depth of Kanban implementation10. Process evolution was model-driven 11. Process or management policy evolution as a result of mentor-

mentee12. Inter-workflow or management policy evolution due to operations

review

Limit WIPFeedback Loops

(13)

(4)

(11)(12)

(7)

(10) VisualizeImprove

Explicit Policies Manage Flow

7

1

25

2

Lean

Excellence

10

2

68

3

2

Effects

4

7

(12)

12

3

10

10

6

4

10

Baseline

Necessary

6

Christophe Achouiantz – @ChrisAch

Team Name (date)

Limit WIPFeedback Loops

(13)

(4)

(11)(12)

(7)

(10) VisualizeImprove

Explicit Policies Manage Flow

7

1

25

2

Lean

Excellence

10

2

68

3

2

Effects

4

7

(12)

12

3

10

10

6

4

10

Baseline

Necessary

6

00Current”Score”

Trend

Christophe Achouiantz – @ChrisAch

Team X (2012-10-11)

Limit WIPFeedback Loops

(13)

(4)

(11)(12)

(7)

(10) VisualizeImprove

Explicit Policies Manage Flow

7

1

25

2

Lean

Excellence

10

2

68

3

2

Effects

4

7

(12)

12

3

10

10

6

4

10

Baseline

Necessary

6

45

2012-08-20

2012-10-11Current”Score”

Trend

Next Target Condition

Christophe Achouiantz – @ChrisAch

Team Y (2012-10-02)

Limit WIPFeedback Loops

(13)

(4)

(11)(12)

(7)

(10) VisualizeImprove

Explicit Policies Manage Flow

7

1

25

2

Lean

Excellence

10

2

68

3

2

Effects

4

7

(12)

12

3

10

10

6

4

10

Baseline

Necessary

6

24Current”Score”

Trend

Next Target Condition

Christophe Achouiantz – @ChrisAch